


MerMADE for You

by Amuly



Series: Merman!Steve [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, M/M, mermaid - Freeform, mermaid au, merman, steve's a mermaid okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-28 00:23:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/985415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amuly/pseuds/Amuly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is a sailor who is injured one night defending his ship. Some<i>thing</i> saved him. Now Tony is out to find out what... or who? (Steve. Steve the Merman saved him.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	MerMADE for You

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a bunch of pieces of art by [zombietonbo](http://zombietonbo.tumblr.com) which you can see [here](http://everybodyilovedies.tumblr.com/post/62637363556/zombietonbo-i-dont-know-how-to-draw-pirates), [here](http://zombietonbo.tumblr.com/post/62660996711), and [here](http://zombietonbo.tumblr.com/post/61801750999)

 

The battle was horrific.

Cannon fire lit up the night sky, the flash from gunpowder being ignited in muskets almost blinding as Tony dashed through his men, across the creaking boards of his ship.

“Starboard side!” he shouted, gesturing with his rapier. “They're coming aboard starboard!”

Tony dashed forward, rapier thrust out before him as he threw himself into the fray. These scallywags weren't about to take the Iron Maiden away from him. Not if he had anything to say about it.

Another cannonball blast hit square into port side of the ship, jarring him hard into the railing. Tony grunted, breath leaving him for a moment. He breathed deep as he kept a close eye on his opponents, who had also been thrown off-balance. This ragtag group of miscreants wasn't going to take his ship away from him. Not if he had anything left to say about it.

With a shout Tony dashed forward to the nearest thug, rapier extended.

A shot. A sharp _thump_. The breath left Tony again, except this time he couldn't draw it back in, for some reason. Tony stumbled backwards, rapier slipping from his fingertips as he palmed at his chest. It was a gunshot wound, blossoming like a starfish through his shirt.

Another cannonball hit the side of the ship; another impact to throw Tony off his feet. Only his feet were already gone from beneath him, his strength leaving his body.

One, two steps and Tony was falling, flipped back over the railing of his beloved ship and into the inky blackness of the sea below. His eyes slid shut before he even hit the water. The cold deep soaked through his clothes in an instant, dragging him deep below.

* * *

Later, when his men recovered him and asked how he survived, what had happened, Tony wouldn't be able to remember much.

Cold blackness ahead of him; the crash of the sea poised to suck him to her furthest depths. Wet, and cold, and darkness: that was all there was left for the once-great Tony Stark.

But then: a shot of light. Blonde hair and fair skin, a blueish glow surrounding him. Warmth, and tenderness, and the sweet blush of youth.

Relief from pain. Air in his lungs again. A gentle caress, a different weight in his chest. Blueish glow, still, even outside the murky damp.

Darkness again.

* * *

“I heard he has a clockwork heart.”

“I heard he sold his heart to the devil, and what's replaced it is a single fiery ember from the demon himself.”

“I heard he died and went to the center circle of hell, frozen for all eternity with the rest of the betrayers. When he came back to earth, his heart stayed frozen.”

“I heard he met King Triton, and brokered a deal of some sort with him in exchange for his ship.”

Tony lowered himself down with the ropes, coming to a stop just above his new crew's heads. “ _I_ heard the one thing he hates more than lazy sailors is gossiping sailors.”

The five men that had been deep in discussion with each other jumped to attention, clutching their hats in their hands fretfully.

“We meant no offense,” the first man who had spoke, the new ship's doctor, reassured Tony. He was a Dr. Bruce Banner, a calm man with Irish hair and eyes, though no hint of an accent. Tony tilted his head in acknowledgement of his apology.

The next man, their new lookout, was Clint Barton. He'd started his life at sea far too early, a stowaway aboard one of the Queen's ships. But one of the men had taken a liking to him, seen some potential in his quick eyes and steady hands, and kept him on as an apprentice rather than sell him off into slavery or toss him overboard right then and there. Now, he was the best of the best, which meant he was Tony's man—because Tony only hired the best men.

“Get back to your work, and make ready to set sail,” Tony ordered the lot of them with an impatient gesture. He knew what was said about his heart, the rumors that swirled like the blueish glow swirled within his chest. Self-consciously Tony tugged at the thick jacket which covered any glimpse which might fuel more rumors. He turned to another gaggle of soldiers, standing around chatting. “You boys hear that? Make ready to sail!”

His first mate, James Rhodes, caught his eye and nodded assuredly. “Make ready to sail!” he picked up the cry, and rushed about the deck to see to the crew. Tony tossed him a friendly salute, and then went about his way.

With his crew scurrying about, Tony retreated behind the wheel of his ship, the repaired and refurbished Iron Maiden. He consulted his books and charts, maps weighed down with rocks and compasses and sextants strewn atop them. He consulted a pocket watch as he glanced out at sea, making the initial necessary calculations for their journey.

It was Tony's first time out at sea after his last run-in with pirates, after everything had changed. And Tony had some plans as to which very specific patches of sea his ship traversed on this particular voyage.

It was deep into the night by the time Tony estimated he was in the right place. With one gesture he called Barton down to him. The man navigated down the ropes of the ship like he was born to it. Tony spoke quietly but clearly into Barton's ear.

“Whatever you might see tonight, you are not to sound the alarm if I am involved. And you are not to speak of it with the rest of your shipmates. Can I count on your discretion?”

Barton looked confused, but he nodded seriously. “Sure thing, Cap'n.”

Tony scrunched his nose up at the title, but didn't correct him. It was accurate, though it never sat right on Tony's shoulders.

The waters were clear and calm as Tony got into a lifeboat and lowered himself down to them. So unlike that night, over a year ago, that had started all of this.

The lifeboat knocked against the ship's hull as the waves lapped against it, taking a moment to settle properly onto the water. Once the ropes were tied off and Tony was certain he was secure, Tony peered down into the murky deep. It might be a clear, bright night, and the sea might be calm, but she was never safe. Never secure, with what she might be hiding in those unfathomable depths. Tony stared down into the water, and felt like it was staring right back into him.

After a quiet moment, Tony shook himself and sat back in the lifeboat. Trembling hands reached up to unbutton his jacket, then his shirt. It was now or never. Besides, what did he really think was going to happen? Whatever his thoughts may be, they were fantasy, they were a dream. Tonight would end with him catching a cold and tugging himself back aboard the ship, miserable and chilled to the bone. That was all.

Although the moon was out and the stars were bright, the night was still dark enough for Tony to be dazzled by the light from his chest as his shirt fell away. The blueish glow of the sea creature that lived in there, throbbing faintly with the beat of his heart, illuminated the lifeboat to almost unbearable brightness in the blackness of the night. Tony shielded his eyes for a moment, squinting harshly out into the ocean as he looked. Surely this would be beacon enough, to summon whatever creature he had dreamed had given this second life to him. Tony would act as a lighthouse calling him home, surely.

In the damp-smelling lifeboat, crusty with salt and bilge swirling around at his feet, Tony waited. And waited. The wind picked up and turned bitter, forcing Tony to shrug his shirt and jacket back on, though he did his best to keep the glowing center exposed to the night, no matter how chilled he got.

Just when he was ready to call it a night and curse himself for his fool's dream, something stirred in the water. It was a way's away, far to distant for him to spot in the darkness of night—even with the sea creature in his chest illuminating the sea. Tony jumped forward, hands clutching tight at the edge of the lifeboat, straining to see. It was probably just a school of fish, or a pod of whales. Maybe even some sharks, looking for a late-night snack.

There! Again, the disturbance in the water. Closer this time! The lifeboat rocked as Tony leaned further over the edge, eyes frantically scanning the water. If he could just-

“Hello again.”

Tony stumbled backwards, almost upending himself right out of the lifeboat. A man had appeared! A blonde, blue-eyed, _incredibly_ handsome man. Tony quickly set himself to rights, water squelching into his boots and sleeves, pulling himself upright as quickly as he could. The man over the side of the boat, bobbing happily in the water without a stitch of clothing on, from what Tony could see. Self-consciously Tony tugged at his shirt and jacket, covering up the odd workings of his chest from the man.

But, even through the shock, let it never be said that Tony wasn't astute. His eyes narrowed as he sized up the handsome young man. “'Hello _again_ '?”

The man ducked his head, blushing just a bit, as far as Tony could see in the illumination of the night. “I suppose... I thought you'd remember. But...”

Against his own good judgement, Tony found himself leaning forward interestedly. “No, no. I remember. I... Not everything, but.” Tentatively Tony let his jacket and shirt fall open, exposing his chest once more. The young man's face was illuminated in the bio-luminescent glow. Tony pressed a hand over the glass casing. The creature inside throbbed faster. “This. This was you, wasn't it? You saved me.”

The young man shrugged, one hand coming up to rub bashfully at the back of his head. “It was nothing, really. Old medicine, for my people. It was easy.”

Tony squinted. How was the young man treading water so easily, with one hand out of the water like that, and his torso so far extended above the waterline? “Your people?” he asked, thinking perhaps the answer to his unasked questions might be the same as the answer to that one.

The young man glanced back, across the dark, still water behind him. The he leaned forward across the side of the lifeboat. “Would you keep a secret?”

Tony leaned forward, already nodding.

Both of the young man's hands came down to grip at the side of the lifeboat. Then a tail flicked out of the water. A large tail: one for a dolphin or small whale. Tony blinked and jumped forward, looking for the creature the tail belonged to. But he already knew, before he even saw the smooth way the tail of a see mammal melted into the torso of a man. He already knew what he was seeing.

“You're a mermaid. Merman.”

The young man shrugged, more bashful, now. He ducked his head so low his chin practically hit his chest. “Well, most everyone who knows me just calls me Steve.”

Tony stuck out his hand. “Tony,” he introduced himself.

Steve stared at the hand Tony had proffered him, eyeing it curiously. Smiling gently, Tony leaned forward and grasped Steve's wrist with his other hand, then brought his hand up and rested it in Tony's. Tony shook their hands up and down.

Steve laughed as Tony let go, flexing his hand in front of him curiously. “What was that? A greeting?”

Tony nodded. “Aye. A handshake.”

A sly look appeared on Steve's face, and Tony knew he was well and truly in trouble, thanks to this... this _mer_ man.

“Do you want to know how we greet amongst my people?”

Before Tony had a chance to reply, Steve was hauling himself up the side of the boat. His blonde lashes were water-flecked, which was the last thing Tony registered before Steve's lips were on his and all other thought flew straight out of his head.

Tony gasped into the kiss, but never let it be said he wasn't a man who couldn't adapt to new circumstances. He'd been living for a year with a bio-luminescent sea creature in his chest; he could adapt to a beautiful young half-man kissing him. No big deal.

Steve was grinning into the kiss, a sweet little thing. Tony laughed and kissed him back harder, one hand coming up to grab at the soft, wet locks of Steve's hair, tugging him in closer. When they finally broke apart, Tony was panting, but Steve wasn't. Perhaps it had something to do with gills. Though Steve certainly seemed flush and happy enough to be termed “breathless”, even if the adjective wasn't entirely accurate in the moment.

“That was how merpeople greet one another?”

Steve flushed, hand coming up again to rub at the back of his head. Tony might have found it heart-breakingly endearing, if he had a heart to break.

“Well... Maybe not like _that_ ,” Steve granted him.

The faint cry of a hawk split the air—a hawk that would be much too far out at sea, were it an actual hawk making the noise. Tony glanced up at the crow's nest, able to spot the faint shadow of sailor Barton crouched up there. His time was up, then. His ship needed her captain once more.

Tony turned back to Steve, folding his hands in his with some urgency.

“We won't be passing by this area of sea for another three months,” Tony warned.

“Where are you going?” Steve asked, brow furrowed. “Somewhere I can't follow? Ashore?”

Tony shook his head. “No, but this ship is the fastest in the realm. You won't be able to follow behind us.”

Steve's teeth were white as pearls, illuminated by the glow of Tony's chest and the light of the moon. “Come down the next night you are able. And then we'll see how your human ship fares against merpeople speed.”

Tony flashed a grin, bright and wicked. His heart soared. “You're going to be terrible for me, aren't you?”

Steve's right hand broke free of Tony's grasp to press tight against his chest, wet fingers sliding against the glass. “I think I've done alright for you so far.”

* * *

Three days later, and Steve's hands were curled tightly around Tony's compass, moving it this way and that.

“It points to magnetic north,” Tony was explaining. “This way, no matter how few landmarks I have, or how cloudy the skies are, I can know which direction I'm heading.”

Steve ducked down into the water with it, swimming aways out. Tony waited patiently, watching Steve's head appear for a moment, then disappear, only to reappear again a hundred meters in another direction. Five, ten minutes later, Steve was popping up next to the lifeboat again, eyes wide and cheeks flush.

“It stays pointed the same direction!” Steve exclaimed.

Tony grinned. “It's magnetized. That little bit of metal there. And when you magnetize a bit of metal and then float it, it'll point north. It's like... it's seeking out its mate.”

Steve's face suddenly seemed a lot closer than before, those long blonde eyelashes hooding eyes as blue as the sea. “Like that, is it?” he murmured.

Tony's throat went dry, but he plucked up his courage to close the gap between them and capture Steve's lips with his. Steve kissed back passionately, recklessly. Perhaps they hadn't heard of sodomy laws under the sea, or perhaps this was how Steve did everything: with reckless abandonment for whatever stupid rules might be incorrectly in his way. As Tony brought his hand up to cup Steve's damp cheek, he thought maybe it was a bit of both.

A low whistle above them. Reluctantly Tony broke the kiss and glanced up. A polka-dot blue and white bandana whisked out of view. That would be his first mate giving the signal, then. Tony sighed and stroked his thumb over Steve's impossibly perfect cheekbones.

“I've got to go.”

Steve smiled softly, ducking his head a little. “Bring something else, next time? Some other bit or bob?”

Tony leaned in for just one more kiss.

* * *

“It's a fork.”

“And you...”

“Eat with it.”

Steve leapt away, and Tony waited patiently for him to reemerge from the dark depths. A minute later he popped back up, a fish wriggling between his teeth. Tony watched, wide-eyed, as Steve brought it to the boat.

“Show me.”

Tony stared at the squirming mass of fish. “Uh. Normally... it's... dead...”

* * *

“But how?”

“Mirrors,” Tony explained. Carefully he tilted the telescope so Steve could see inside without looking through it.

Steve's eyes lit up. “It's like refraction of light through water!”

Tony blinked, his mouth falling open. “Uh-”

Steve's big blue eyes looked eagerly at Tony's. “Right? Or is it not the same?”

“No, it's...” Tony managed to pick his jaw up from the floor of the lifeboat only with the greatest exertion of control. “It's the same, you're right. Or, well. The same laws govern both.”

Of all the moments in his life, explaining the physics of light to a merman had to be one of Tony's strangest.

* * *

“We have something similar, but we use the bio-luminescent oils from deep-sea fish,” Steve explained. His fingers traced through the water colors Tony had brought down with him in the lifeboat this night, finger painting onto the canvas by the glow of the creature in Tony's chest.

Tony watched, rapt, as the paints came together on the canvas beneath Steve's fingers.

“Is that like what you put in my chest?” Tony's fingers slipped along the glass on his chest.

Steve paused, glanced over at Tony's chest. He smiled, quick and easy. “No. That's different.” Without another word he turned back to the canvas.

Tony had a new painting hanging above his bed that morning, all dark waters and dark hair in a tumultuous sea, a single shot of blonde cutting through the black.

* * *

Tony's head was hung low as he waited for Steve to arrive. He did, almost the moment Tony's lifeboat came to rest in the water. He was punctual like that, Tony had learned.

“We're putting into port,” Tony blurted out the moment Steve's head broke the water.

“What?” Steve shook his head, water droplets flying everywhere. He was like the David and Narcissus and all the most beautiful works of Renaissance art, all wrapped into one. Tony rubbed at his chest, an ache deep in the place where his heart was supposed to be.

“I have business to attend to. On land. It will take a few months.” Tony didn't much feel the need to go over all the tedious specifics with Steve. They had avoided talking about Tony's obligations and titles thus far in their relationship. Theirs had been a meeting of minds, devoid of words like “Lord” and “estate”. Tony didn't want to spoil that, not now.

“You won't be able to come out and see me,” Steve supplied.

Tony touched the chest plate again, wondering if it was possible for the creature keeping him alive to die. Surely it could. It certainly felt like it was dying now.

“I'm so sor-”

“I'll come with you!”

Tony blinked. Stared at the grinning, eager face in front of him.

“Excuse me?”

Steve beamed. “Make port, and then as soon as you are able, head down to a deserted portion of the coast. I don't need much. Three meals a day, same as you. I don't even need a pool, though one would certainly be nice.”

Tony worked the muscles in his jaw, thinking. Could they do it? Could that even work?

Of course it could. Tony was a genius. And a Lord. He could make it work. He just would need to convert his pool to a salt water one, which would be a simple task. Perhaps even populate it with sea creatures, really make Steve feel at home. And it would only be for a few months, just until Tony got his affairs sorted out again and headed back out to sea.

“I... Yes.”

Steve beamed. “Yes?”

Tony grinned, laughed. This was insane. Completely insane.

Never let it be said that Tony wasn't a little bit insane.

“You're coming with me,” Tony declared.

They sealed it with a kiss.

* * *

Tony huffed and puffed as he carried Steve up the deserted stretch of beach back to his coach. “I didn't think this through,” he admitted.

“Are you a prince?” Steve wondered. Tony coughed and followed his eye-line. Oh, he was looking at the fancy coach.

“No,” Tony puffed. “I'm... just really... rich.” Tony gasped for air. Holy hell, Steve was heavy.

“Oh.” A pause. “I'm a prince.”

Rhodey was there to open the door for Tony, rolling his eyes the entire time. Tony practically threw Steve into the coach, barely catching himself in time to keep from falling over.

“You are?”

Steve settled himself in the back seat of the coach, peering around excitedly at everything. “Yeah. I mean, I wasn't born a prince. But there was this thing with one of our scientists named Erskine—it's his colleague, Yinsen, who discovered the secrets that healed your heart. The two of them work in the dark, deep of the ocean, where none of us dare to go. Erskine made me into who I am.”

“And that's a prince?” Tony asked as he collapsed into the seat across from Steve. Rhodey closed the door on the two of them and hopped up into the driver's seat. Steve's face was pressed to the window as they started moving, marveling at the sights passing them by.

“Something like that,” Steve murmured.

Tony groaned and rubbed at his aching muscles. At least it would be easier to carry Steve underwater, if he ever had to visit Steve's kingdom. He should probably get working on some sort of breathing apparatus, though. Just in case.  


End file.
